Gage is ready for school...

Gavin got a new backpack for Christmas, and the minute that his old backpack was unoccupied, Gage made it his own. It's huge on him and to watch him walk around playing school is an adorable sight to see.

We've decided to enroll Gage in an introductory preschool program in the fall, so he'll be going on Fridays during the same hours that Gavin is there. Yes, this means Mommy will get three full hours to herself every week! Whatever will I do with myself?! Child-free grocery shopping rates high on my list currently, and other errands and bills, laundry and dishes are always hoping for some more attention, too.

Gavin Swimming

Here is Gavin in another swim lesson with "Miz Liz." He is doing an awesome job these days and is routinely used as the model on how to do a back float. Recently, he even start to use his arms to slowly push himself around while maintaining his back float. When he does this he is able to make it around the whole pool including the deep end. He is still working on diving in and flipping over to his back to get to the floating position...but I am sure he will get it soon.

This picture is actually Gavin taking a turn swimming completely under another girl in his class. He used to be pushed under and through, but now he does it all by himself with giant kicks and even a little arm action under water. This seems to be his favorite thing to do...well that and picking up rings and other toys off of the bottom of the pool (which is about 3 feet deep in the shallow end). He is doing such a great job! Both Tara and I are very proud of the progress he has made, and it makes us feel that much safer when he is in the water.

Gage swims with "Miz Liz"...

Gage has done one session of swimming with "Miz Liz" in the context of a Mommy-and-Me class right before Gavin's lesson. He did great and loved the water.

"3-2-1 Bubbles!" He's still practicing this in the bathtub. He's so cute!

He was pretty good floating on his back, putting his head on my shoulder.

He's such a precious boy. Daddy took him swimming the other day--just the two of 'em--to make sure that Gage doesn't feel left out now that we're back to doing lessons for just Gavin. He loved it! Brent said that they did the slides a hundred times, and I've experienced it firsthand, too: Gage never tires of it.

Gage didn't quite know what to make of "Miz Liz," especially when she'd take him and make him practice going under the water. You can see in this picture: Miz Liz is the real deal. She means business, and she's been so good for Gavin. He's swimming SO much better under her instruction than what we were experiencing at the rec center. We're so proud of both of our little fish!

Gage's two year birthday party...

I just can't believe it! Gage turned two on January 9...and the other thing I can't believe is that I'm just now writing about it on March 15! See the two candles in the cake? We had a little family party at the house to celebrate, and that was nice.

Let's just say that we did not have to beg the child to eat his birthday cake. That comes pretty naturally to both of our children. Seriously, I know we all have our own struggles, but getting our kids to eat has never been one of ours. If anything, we have to cut them off and encourage them to take smaller bites, reminding them that they're not in a race and the food is not going anywhere. I can't imagine what our grocery bills will be like when the boys are in high school!

"Grandma Mike" (Brent's mom) made Gage a beautiful hot air balloon quilt for his birthday that's now hanging in his room. Well done, Pam! Below, Gage is playing with his new Magnatiles, one of our kids' favorite building toys. It's really pretty amazing to see what kinds of structures that both of them will come up with.

Gavin's first ski lessons - part 2 of 2...

Here is an action shot of Gavin coming down the hill. He is working on turning and keeping his skis in the shape of a slice of pizza with his arms at his sides like he would hold poles. You can see the other girl from his class up above actually heading straight down the hillside. They seemed to alternate who would end up heading straight down and getting caught by either the instructor or the plastic fence at the bottom.

I had intended to get some studying done at some point during Gavin's lesson, but it was just too fun seeing him learn to ski and having such a great time. Here is a picture of him having just entered the conveyor belt at the bottom of the hill for a ride back up. The funniest part was how slow this belt moved. Gavin did a great job at being patient on it because he had to hold still or he would fall off.

Here is Gavin at the end of the lesson. The sun started to go down and it was starting to get a bit chilly. He was exhausted but in a great mood. He bundled up his little skis and carried them over to me so that we could go return them.

I wanted to get a picture of him and his instructor, but he got a bit goofy. This is the best we got. She was just the perfect teacher for him. She stayed patient, positive and playful and always had good advice for him. He was already talking about getting to go again on the way home. I am hoping that we can go two or three times this season to get him to where he has the basics down, and then I can take him on my own to just practice.

Gavin's first ski lessons - part 1 of 2...

The day finally arrived for Gavin to have his first ski lesson. We had been talking it up for quite some time, and he was psyched. I (Brent) had recently had my job eliminated at my former company, so I had tons of time on my hands. Eldora was the natural choice since it was only about 45 minutes away. We chose a day during the middle of the week so we could beat the rush, and it turned out that we had perfect weather. It was like 45 degrees and sunny at the ski slopes with water literally running off the mountain. Having said that, Eldora did have the best snow in the state at the time. We arrived early to get him all suited up and rent his skis, boots and a helmet. He already looked like a pro!

We waited patiently for his two-and-a-half hour class to start. He was excited to meet his instructor and see how big his class would be. It turns out that he only had one other student in his particular class, and his instructor turned out to be amazing. She could not have been any better for Gavin.

After spending about 20 minutes discussing basic snow and skiing strategy, they suited up and moved into the bunny slope area to begin practicing. The bunny slope was about 40-50 yards long with a gentle slope down the hillside.

This was the conveyer belt that brought everyone from the bottom of the bunny slope to the top. Gavin got lots of practice using this lift, as he probably went up it 30-40 times.

Here is Gavin looking like a totally legit skier and ready for business. I have to say, he did quite awesome! He has his skis turned perpendicular to the ski slope so he won't move, and he is waiting for the ski instructor to come back and help him again. Waiting patiently was quite a challenge for our son, of course, when he was eager to attack the slope; and as such, he had a couple of "accidental" starts down the hill when it wasn't his turn yet.

Gage in "nastics" class...

Is he adorable or what?! We signed Gage up for his first little gymnastics class at the rec center, and he really seemed to enjoy it. I looked forward to having "our" time together on Friday mornings when Gavin was at preschool. He liked all of the activities, but the trampoline and the foam pit were probably his favorites.

Gage was so good at sitting in the circle and stretching with Miss Helen. After that, however, there really wasn't much structure, which was good and bad but didn't leave me itching to sign him up for another session when this one was up. Our next Friday morning activity will be a music class that we'll start at the end of March. Gage loves to sing and dance!

Auntie Kathy makes a visit...

Auntie Kathy (Raybin) was paying us a visit on this day, and she and Gage were having a nice time cleaning up the bird bath outside. It was a lovely winter day.

Gagie slipped in the yard and hit his head on the deck (ouch!), and I have to say that I sort of prided myself on this little Mommy contraption (with the help of Gavin's "birthday crown") that helped Gage to keep the ice pack on his forehead. Poor little guy! These little guys get so many bangs and bruises that I seriously forgot the cause of Gavin's most recent head injury when someone asked the other day.

Hangin' out with the bronze statues at Avista...

We all love these beautiful bronze statues outside of the hospital (Avista) where the boys were born and also where their pediatrician's office is. Jesus is sitting between a lion and a lamb, and there's a child at Jesus' feet.

Gavin is the one (very perceptive) that noticed that Jesus is drying the little boy's tears. I love that image, and I love seeing my boy hugging Jesus, too. Gavin's prayers have been so sweet and sincere lately. The other day he asked God to help him and Gage be more helpful to Mommy in the store, and today he thanked God for his "good behavior" with Daddy this afternoon. I love his laundry list of things he sees on the table too: "And thank you for this rice and these tortillas and these beans...and we love you, God. Amen." And then Gage's new standard prayer with the most adorable intonation in the world (I keep saying that we have to capture it on the video camera one of these days) is: "Thank you, God, for this food. Amen." It is so precious for me to see my boys acknowledging God and, seemingly, developing a relationship with Him as they grow.

Gage's first soccer lesson...

After all this time watching Gavin at soccer practice, it was finally Gage's turn to get to get in on the action. In the above picture, he is sitting with me (Brent) picking his favorite color and introducing himself to the other players His reaction was kind of a mixed bag. He loved kicking over the cones and just generally running around kicking the soccer balls. Every now and then, though, he would just bolt for the door on the arena and try to run off the field.

Here he is practicing kicking the ball...or actually practicing grabbing it with his hands. He sometimes gets confused about only using his feet, but he did surprisingly well. I was definitely proud of him getting in on the action.

Shoe modeling?

Our boys are both such hams! Gavin's wearing my slippers in the goofy shot above...

...and Gage is wearing Gavin's soccer shin guards in this picture.

This rather serious pose of Gavin showcases Mommy's boots on the Christmas rug.

And this equally serious picture of Baby Brother really shows off Mom's tennis shoes. It's funny how kids always love to try on bigger shoes. Oh, how I wish we could convince them that the best ones for now are their own.

Butterfly pavilion...

We love going to the Butterfly Pavilion. We got a killer deal with a Groupon that made our annual family pass only $32!!! It's been a great place to go on cold weather days.

Gavin never tires of holding Rosie, the in house tarantula. Gage is practicing up but can't get in on that fun 'til he's three.

There's a fun zip line in the play area, and both boys really love to do that. It's fun for me to tell our kids that Brent and I rode on a "real" zip line in Costa Rica when we were there together years ago. (We were chaperones for a Spanish class trip, but it really felt like a vacation for us, too!)

Gavin's half-day soccer camp...

Gavin has been loving soccer so much lately that we decided to try out a half-day soccer camp at Boulder Indoor Soccer with him. It seemed like quite a big step for him, as usually he is only there for an hour-long class. I (Brent) like the above picture with the cloth fence in focus and Gavin in the background talking to a coach.

One of the highlights of the camp was that, in addition to the plethora of Gavin's favorite coaches being there, they had a pro soccer player also come to help out. Unfortunately, I can't remember the player's name, but he was super good with the kids; and it was neat to see him out there teaching Gavin. I have to say that after the three-and-a-half hour lesson, Gavin was about as tired as I have ever seen him. In the scrimmages during the last 15 minutes, he was barely moving his feet off of the turf as he shuffled along. It is worth noting that Gavin was perhaps the youngest of all of the 30 kids that were involved in the camp. I love that he has always loved soccer and is often playing with kids much older than he is and yet really holds his own. It's becoming evident that Gavin likes to play defense like his dad.

Family time with Uncle Zachie and the gang...

This is my brother, Zach, with his adorable daughter and our niece, Camille, my namesake :) We were eating pizza together at our place, and Camille was eating some homemade pureed concoction of squash and the like, I'm sure.

Is she precious, or what?! And how about that little dress?

We turned our living room into the setting for a photo shoot when they were over, and I think that the above shot was the "winningest" shot of all three. It's always so hard to get everyone smiling at once, isn't it?

It was crazy (and kind of surreal) to see my son's giant hand holding that of his tiny cousin. Gavin and Gage are both really sweet with Camille. Gage calls her "Meal" and often refers to her when talking about babies.

Again, this may have been the best shot of all three of the kids together. I just can't get over how big my boys are in comparison to Camille. How did that happen?! I love to see these guys together, and it just doesn't happen often enough.

Christmas at Grammie and Papa's...

Lots of thoughts and feelings come from looking at the above picture of my son and my brother together at Christmas. I love seeing it, and I realize as I look at it again now that it's such a rarity to see these two people that I care about so much together in the same place. Gavin had made a picture for Uncle Zachie, and I'm sure he was explaining it in great detail in this photo.

Grammie and Gavin have a special relationship. My mom adores him, and Gavin is really sweet with her and almost unexpectedly sensitive about her bad back.

We tried to keep our boys busy building Legos during the long gift opening time. How cute is Camille (our sweet niece!) "playing" with all the boys?! It was so fun to be with her at Christmastime.

Auntie Lorna read a book to Gavin at my mom's, and he loved it. I loved seeing them together. Again, I'm struck by how little they get to be together, so I really try to relish all of these moments.

Here I am with my precious niece, Camille. Honestly, I had a couple of teary moments when she was home this visit. I was aware that I would never be having a little girl of my own, and then I was sad that my sweet niece and the kids' cousin lives so darn far away. It doesn't seem fair sometimes. And though none of us like the current situation, it just is that way right now. I hope that someday we'll all live closer to one another again. I'd love to hold her more often!

Our Christmas at home...

Man, would I love to know what I'm doing in this picture?! But, what I can say is that I was attempting to read the Christmas story from Gavin's Bible, and Gage was doing something with the "Little People" nativity scene. I always have grand ideas for how this whole time will go--and it's never quite how I imagine it--but I'm still really glad that we do it, because it's up to us to establish the tone and meaning of Christmas for our children. As theatrical and altogether dramatic as Gavin is, I have it in my head that he'll act out the Christmas story with his little nativity scene while I read. And a string quartet will play in step with the story providing the perfect background music, too, you're asking? I do realize that maybe my hopes are high, but it's very important to me that our kids understand the true meaning of Christmas from the very first time they'll have memories of it at all. If Jesus never came to this earth, then we are all very lost, indeed.

Gage is displaying his new Christmas pajamas in this picture. We started a tradition this year that we'll give them each new pjs on Christmas Eve. I'd like for us to establish some fun holiday traditions that we'll all look forward to and remember for years to come. What are some of yours?

Brent is reading Gage a new book, and in the foreground (really?!) is my Dustbuster, given to me by both my husband and my mom. Oops! Well, I guess that's one per floor. (Just kidding, I took one back.)